The Beach House: A totally gripping, utterly romantic and emotional page-turner by Jenny Hale

Author:Jenny Hale [Hale, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800196506
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-06-08T18:30:00+00:00

When they docked again, the boat swayed in the waves, the breeze causing the water to peak as it rushed toward the shore under the pier. This marina was a small clapboard structure with an array of fishing hooks lining the entrance and a sign for fresh coffee at the open window. Josh helped Melanie from the boat and thanked Paul as she stepped onto the pier.

“How will we get back?” she asked.

“Paul’s picking us up in two hours,” he said. “So we’ve got some time to kill. I thought I’d grab a couple of cookies for Cole at this ice cream shop in town.”

“Ooh, I’d love some ice cream.”

“If you do, that’s the spot. The shop has been here since the turn of the last century. It has a two-hundred-year-old family vanilla ice cream recipe, and they mix it with all kinds of amazing flavors like maple bourbon and honey lavender.”

“That sounds incredible,” she said, mouth watering, as they paced together down the boardwalk that led to a small strip of shops.

Josh stopped under a pink and turquoise awning and opened the door, the glass twinkling in the sunlight as he pulled it. Melanie walked past a mint-green bicycle with a basket and headed into the cool shop, the air sweet with the scent of sugar. The menu was artfully done in bright pink script. A woman behind the counter smiled, her gray hair pulled back in a yellow bandana.

“Hello,” she said. “First time in?”

“Yes,” Melanie answered, taking in the rainbow of ice cream colors in fuchsia, yellow, green, and blue, while Josh browsed the basket of cookies on the counter. “What’s your most popular flavor?”

“Well, that would be our white chocolate tiramisu vanilla. Would you two like to sample it?” She grabbed two little wooden spoons and filled them with ice cream, dusting them with white chocolate flakes and then adding a drizzle of chocolate.

Melanie tasted it; the ice cream flavor was like an explosion of summer in her mouth. “That’s amazing,” she said.

“Thank you.” The woman leaned on the counter. “We’ve had many years to perfect our flavors. And we very rarely change our menu. We haven’t made a single change since the fifties, when we added the blackberry vanilla, which we top with a reduced blackberry sauce, and sugared blackberry crumbles. It’s served in a stemmed glass.”

“I’ll have that,” Melanie said, excited to try it. “Want one?” she asked Josh.

“Maybe just these.” He held up two cookies.

“Go on, get one,” Melanie urged. “Once you’re in New York, you won’t be able to have it.”

“All right. You’ve convinced me. Make that two,” Josh said. “And these.” He slid the cookies onto the counter.

“Good choice,” the woman said, pointing to the menu before bagging up the cookies. “We call that our Lovebird Special—two blackberry crumbles.”

“Lovebird Special?” Josh said, eyeing Melanie uncomfortably.

“Yes, rumor has it that it was originally created for two lovebirds who spent their last week here together before the officer went into the navy. It was over their ice creams that they enjoyed their last full day together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.